Intel stock surges over 40% in September, raising valuation concerns

Intel just had the kind of month that makes long-suffering shareholders feel vindicated and new buyers feel nervous. The chipmaker’s stock climbed more than 40% in September 2026, capping a year-to-date gain north of 200%. The stock peaked above $127 intraday before settling around $123 at month’s end. One session on September 21 delivered a 12.14% single-day pop. What’s actually driving the rally Two forces converged to light a fire under Intel shares. The first was Meta Platforms’ rollout of its Muse AI agent, which turbocharged market expectations for data-center CPU demand. The second catalyst came from CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who told investors that Intel could currently meet only about 50% of existing CPU demand. Q2 2026 revenue came in at $16.1 billion, representing a 25% year-over-year increase. Foundry progress added another layer, with potential partnerships including discussions with SK Hynix on memory-chip manufacturing. Analyst upgrades followed. Melius Research lifted its price target to $165. The valuation problem nobody wants to talk about Intel is now trading at more than 60 times forward earnings. The stock had previously traded as high as $142 earlier in 2026 before pull...